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 The same federal jury that earlier this year found Tsarnaev guilty
of killing four people and injuring 264 in the bombing and its
aftermath voted in May to sentence him to death by lethal injection.
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole will order the punishment on
Wednesday.
The trial of Tsarnaev, 21, stirred some of Boston's darkest living
memories. Jurors saw videos of the twin pressure-cooker bombs'
blinding flashes and the chaotic aftermath as first responders and
spectators rushed to aid the wounded, many of whom lost legs.
The court also heard testimony from the families of the slain,
including the fathers of Martin Richard, 8, and Krystle Campbell,
29; an aunt of Lingzi Lu, 23; and the brother of Massachusetts
Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, 26, whom
Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, shot dead three days
after the bombing.
 Tamerlan Tsarnaev died following a gunfight with police after
Collier's shooting.
During the trial, victims who were questioned by federal prosecutors
were limited to discussing the facts of the case. Wednesday's victim
impact statements will allow them more leeway to discuss the
bombing's toll on their lives.
Federal prosecutors described the brothers as adherents of al
Qaeda's militant Islamist ideology who wanted to "punish America"
with the April 15, 2013, attack on the world-renowned race.
Tsarnaev's lawyers admitted their client had played a role in the
attack but tried to portray him as the junior partner in a scheme
hatched and driven by his older brother. The Tsarnaev family came to
the United States from Russia a decade before the attack.
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Tsarnaev is expected to appeal.
Wednesday's hearing will also bring statements from some of the 17
people who lost legs in the attack, some of whom testified during
the trial that they had expected to die from their gruesome
injuries.
Tsarnaev, who did not testify in his own defense during the trial,
will be able to speak but does not have to do so.
Even after the sentencing, the legal wrangling over Tsarnaev's fate
could play out over years, if not decades. Just three of the 74
people sentenced to death in the United States for federal crimes
since 1998 have been executed.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
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